Ph.D. in Finance
UCR’s Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance provides students with a solid foundation in the theoretical and empirical tools of finance. The goal of the program is to prepare students for careers that focus on research in asset pricing and corporate finance. Because finance research draws heavily on the discipline of economics and requires extensive training in quantitative methods, students in the program are required to study microeconomics and econometrics in addition to taking seminars in the field of finance.
Requirements
After completing coursework and passing the comprehensive exam, students are required to produce a dissertation containing original research. A large portion of their time in the program will be devoted to this research and to communicating their research findings to others in written and spoken English. Students will complete this work under the close guidance of the finance area faculty, who are among the world’s leading scholars in finance. For additional information on the faculty members, please see the finance area faculty.
The average time for program completion is five years. Students who progress through the program at the expected pace and who are successful in completing original research projects are typically provided financial aid throughout their five years in the program. Financial aid generally consists of tuition plus income in the form of stipends or teaching assistantships.
Application Information
The UCR School of Business only accepts Ph.D. applications every few years. The next application cycle for the Finance area will be for a program start in Fall 2026. Applications will be open in late 2025, due in January 2026.
Required Finance Courses
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MGT 295F Empirical Methods in Finance
Covers econometric approaches to analyzing common problems encountered when conducting empirical research. Focuses on hypothesis testing, specification tests, general methods of moments estimation, the capital asset pricing model, multi-factor asset pricing models, event studies, operating performance studies, simultaneous equations models and endogeneity issues. Demonstrates programming in SAS and/or Gauss.
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MGT 295G Corporate Finance
Deals with the contemporary issues in corporate finance. Focuses on selected classic and current empirical and theoretical research in corporate finance. Seeks to provide an advanced and rigorous background in the mainstream issues of modern corporate finance with an emphasis on empirical methodology.
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MGT 295I Asset Pricing Theory
Covers equilibrium models of stock returns and their relation to utility theory, arbitrage-based pricing models, options, term structure models and limits to arbitrage.
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MGT 295J Empirical Methods in Finance Research
Covers empirical methods in finance research with an emphasis on empirical asset pricing studies. Topics include methods of testing models related to the theory of asset prices, stock market volatility and stock returns.
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MGT 295K Corporate Finance Research
Topics include advanced topics in corporate finance theory and related empirical research.